The present invention relates generally to dryers, and more specifically to a personal dryer. The present invention is particularly suitable for, although not strictly limited to, assisting in the evaporative removal and drying of moisture from one""s body.
Typically, after exposure to a bath, shower, swimming pool or the like, water-soaked individuals often turn to conventional towel drying techniques in attempts to remove water and/or excess moisture from their body. Although towel drying is an effective method of removing and drying moisture from one""s body, daily utilization of towels has its obvious and apparent disadvantages.
In general, most individuals only have a finite amount of towels available for use. As such, most individuals are often forced to re-use a towel used earlier in the day, or even from the previous day, to dry their body. Such re-use of towels can be unhygienic via the reapplication of dirty body oils, body hair and/or dead skin cells trapped in the towel from previous use. Moreover, towels, in general, are an inconvenience, as they have a tendency of adding to the usual washroom clutter, often ending up on the floor in an unsightly pile.
Additionally, individuals inflicted with painful body sores, rashes and/or other skin inflammations may find it extremely uncomfortable and/or impossible to utilize towels to dry their body, as towel use in such conditions often exacerbates an already distressed skin condition.
Some individuals, specifically paraplegics, quadriplegics and/or the sick and elderly, may find it difficult, if not impossible, to dry their own body due to their disabilities and the inherent limitations associated therewith. As such, physically disabled individuals must often depend upon an assistant to aid in basic body drying needs, an often expensive and potentially awkward and embarrassing situation.
A common resolution for those wishing to avoid regular towel use has been utilization of a hairdryer to dry their body. Unfortunately, utilizing a hairdryer to dry one""s body is usually a highly inefficient and ineffective technique that can potentially subject the user to bodily burns resulting from the high-temperature air expelled from conventional hairdryers.
Although attempts have been made to alleviate the dependency and/or use of towels via the development of body-sized dryers, such attempts have been unsuccessful due to the intrinsic disadvantages associated therewith. Specifically, many prior art body/personal dryers fail to blow dry air. Instead, many prior art dryers are limited to blowing out moist heated air. As such, users are essentially drying themselves with the equivalent of a body-sized hairdryer, wherein undesirable moist heated air can cause the user to sweat and thus, defeat the overall purpose of the cleansing and drying process.
Most prior-art dryers are further disadvantaged, as they are incapable of enabling a user to select a desired temperature for expelled dry air and are, additionally, unable to dispense variable temperatured air through different regions of the device. Thus, users of such devices are forced to dry themselves at a preset and uniform temperature, rather than having the option of drying their entire body at a more desirable personally selected temperature and/or drying different bodily regions with different, user-variable temperatured air.
Therefore, it is readily apparent that there is a need for a personal dryer that alleviates conventional towel use, wherein such a personal dryer is embeddable within a wall and is capable of expelling uniformly temperatured air and/or variable temperatured air from different regions of the dryer, so as to provide a user with the option of drying the entire body with a personally selected uniform temperatured air and/or drying different bodily regions with different or varied, user-selectable temperatured air, and wherein such a personal dryer is capable of being pre-programmed to enable a user to dry his/her body following a user-specified regimen or manner.
Briefly described, in a preferred embodiment, the present invention overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages and meets the recognized need for such a device by providing a personal dryer that alleviates conventional towel use, wherein such a personal dryer is embeddable within a wall and is capable of expelling uniformly temperatured air and/or variable temperatured air from different regions of the dryer, so as to provide a user with the option of drying the entire body with a personally selected uniform temperatured air and/or drying different bodily regions with different or varied, user-selectable temperatured air, and wherein such a personal dryer is capable of being pre-programmed to enable a user to dry his/her body following a user-specified regimen or manner.
According to its major aspects and broadly stated, the present invention in its preferred form is a wall embeddable personal dryer having, in general, an air conditioning apparatus, pressure control valves, air volume control valves, mixing chamber, thermocouplers, manifold apparatus and control panel.
More specifically, the present invention is a personal dryer capable of mixing cooled dry air with heated dry air to achieve a user-selected temperature and to generate a flow of said air for application to the user""s body, the personal dryer having an air conditioning apparatus, wherein the air conditioning apparatus is preferably a compressor with refrigerated dryer, and wherein the compressor with refrigerated dryer is preferably activated via the control panel to generate a user-selectable uniform temperatured air. The cooled, dry and uniform temperatured air generated by the compressor with refrigerated dryer is preferably channeled through a series of tubing for subsequent pressure manipulation via a pressure control valve, wherein user-selected parameters for uniform temperatured air preferably determines the amount of air released by the pressure control valve for introduction into a mixing chamber. An air volume control valve preferably functions to introduce high-temperatured air generated and channeled from a segmented condenser coil of the compressor to a mixing chamber to mix with the air released therein via the pressure control valve. The user-selected uniform temperatured air preferably determines the volume of air distributed/released by the air volume control valve and the pressure control valve, respectively, into the mixing chamber for subsequent expelling of the same via ports formed in the manifold apparatus.
To establish different temperatured air for passage through different ports, each port preferably possesses an air volume control valve that is preferably computer controlled/manipulated via the control panel and is preferably in direct communication with the segmented condenser coil via tubing, wherein unmixed high temperatured air produced by the segmented condenser coil is channeled through the tubing for passage through the ports at a volume regulated by the computer controlled air volume control valves. The volume of air that is permitted to pass through the air volume control valve of a specific port is primarily a function of the user-selected temperature at that port, wherein the volume of expelled air preferably mixes with the air channeled from the mixing chamber to generate/establish the user-selected variable temperatured air at that specific port. To ensure that accurately temperatured air is being expelled via each port, a thermocoupler is provided for each port, wherein each thermocoupler is preferably in electronic feedback communication with the control panel so as to maintain accurate computer control/monitoring of the air temperature at each port.
The control panel further preferably possesses pre-programmable/pre-set functions that enable a user to program and/or select a consistent, daily body drying program/regimen to best accommodate that user""s particular personal drying desires, wherein the personal dryer can be pre-programmed to expel a uniform temperatured air and/or differently temperatured air past each port.
A feature and advantage of the present invention is its ability to be embedded within the wall of any residence, hotel, athletic and/or swimming facility, hospital, nursing home and/or any other building and/or dwelling where dry, user-selectable temperatured air is required/desired.
A feature and advantage of the present invention is its ability to be incorporated/installed in any residence, hotel, athletic and/or swimming facility, hospital, nursing home and/or any other building and/or dwelling where dry, user-selectable temperatured air is required/desired.
A feature and advantage of the present invention is its ability to produce dry, moisture-free air at any user-desired temperature.
A feature and advantage of the present invention is its ability to produce dry, moisture-free air at any user-desired temperature for drying the body of the user.
A feature and advantage of the present invention is its ability to produce dry, moisture-free air at any user-desired temperature for the drying of any article.
A feature and advantage of the present invention is its ability to be pre-programmed/pre-set via the control panel to expel a uniform temperatured air and/or variable temperatured air via each port to best accommodate the personal needs of the user.
A feature and advantage of the present invention is its ability to function as an air dehumidifier.
A feature and advantage of the present invention is it ability to be manufactured to any size.
A feature and advantage of the present invention is its ability to provide ports that expelling air in a multitude of directions via multi-directional and/or oscillating fan blades or louvers positioned on and/or proximal each port from which air is expelled.
A feature and advantage of the present invention is it ability to incorporate hair dryers and/or other hand-held drying tubes that will expel dry, moisture-free air.
A feature and advantage of the present invention is it ability to incorporate heating elements that provide an immediate heat zone/proximity prior to the ports expelling any air.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to one skilled in the art from the following description and claims when read in light of the accompanying drawings.